The Holiday X- Factor search

The Holiday X-Factor search

Dear sacred one,

December is here and the Holiday frenzy has begun. Not sure if you’re like me, but getting an email every hour from my favorite stores and authors telling me I’d better buy cuz this one-time-only 40% sale is going to be over any minute now, drives me batty. I’ve unsubscribed from a few store sites, even my favorite meditation destination, then changed my mind and signed up again when my inner shopper started howling in panic, “OMG, don’t miss out!”

It’s embarrassing really. I imagine snickers from the cyber-shopping spies hidden in my computer: “Got a live one here!”

Good thing I know that the Holiday X-Factor isn’t found via my credit card.

You know that sense that everything’s “just right.” We all look for it this time of year, trying to recreate memories or construct healthy family relationships, if even for a moment. And we’re not just window shopping here; we want that X-Factor BIG YES that says we’re all right, a shining star on the stage of our lives chosen by the Simon Cowell of sugar plum fairies, who once may have seen us lacking, yet now knows we are truly the ONE.

Maybe I could be the one who manages to get through the holidays without wanting to shove salted caramels and popcorn in my face while hiding in the closet, freaking out about my book release on empathy overload and weight loss; yes, I am a woman who feels too much! So it would be no surprise, if that super stressed woman with the cart and the scowl on her face yelling at her kid that she has to get the RIGHT gift sends me running to Godiva to hide in the dark mint bonbon walls of chocolate heaven.

At least that’s what happens in my head. Thankfully, I am less likely to succumb to that sticky Venus flytrap of detours, but I can still get triggered by those overwhelming feelings before dialing them down. (Stay tuned! More blogs about this will be coming over the next few weeks to help those of us who feel too much.)

Maybe you’d sheepishly embrace the temptation to isolate, feign a winter cold or excuse yourself with a “sorry my cat threw up an odd hairball” rather than face the happy faces of families through windows that might just prove that “Leave it to Beaver” was real after all… and as for your experience, well…

Ah yes, the reflection of flaws is sometimes too difficult to bear.

Do you identify with this? There is something compelling about this season of fantasy; we chase the illusory promise that says somehow, any minute now, we will buy the right gift, help the right homeless person, eat the right combination of food, dress our pets up in the perfect Santa hat (guilty), and it will magically bring up the warm fuzzy feeling of having arrived at The Holiday X-Factor. It’s the “X” that marks the spot that’s supposed to be the moment when your life will be forever changed by the perfect combination of holiday talent and skill, buying power, sparkling love and innovative thinking to finally make it to the other side of the imperfections of life.

Let me know if that actually happens to you.

Here’s what I’ve learned about the Holiday X-Factor:

It comes with Surrender.

Self-acceptance.

Compassion.

Humor.

Courage.

And Gratitude.

It means sharing time with friends, letting my loved ones just be who they are, without trying to change them and without looking at my phone to see who else more interesting might want me.

It is loving all the flaws, every crack, every crevice and then seeing and feeling all the joy that comes streaming out from a heart broken open by life’s journey and is now reaching out from me into the world.

It’s about remembering we’re spiritual beings doing the human dance, making messy ART of our short time here. Love is the only reality.

That is worth sharing.

THAT is the real holiday X-Factor.

 

Loving you now and forever,

Because I can.

Colette !

The Invision Project
Founder, CEO
intuition-insight-influence

If you have a question you would like to ask Colette, write to her at AskColette@ColetteBaronReid.com.  All published questions and answers will be anonymous – we honor and protect your privacy. (Please, Colette respectfully asks that you do not request a reading as the anticipated response to your question.)

 

Ps… Here’s Sebastian in his Santa hat. Couldn’t help myself!